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A BIT OF HISTORY CONCERNING 

THE NEW LOCATION OF 
MURRAY AND EMERY COMPANY 



CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 
NINETEEN SIXTEEN 



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Copyright, 1915 
By Albert N. Murray 



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THE BBroOE THAT LEADS TO KENDALL SQUARE 

Vtf)t ♦ ^torp ♦ of ♦ ^enball - Square 

ETROPOLITAN BOSTON of the present 
day embraces considerable territory en- 
hanced by great possibihties of industrial 
development. Recent extension of the 
transportation facilities of Greater Boston 
has brought to the forefront one particular section 
that is destined within a few years to become a leading 
manufacturing center. 

A story of activity is always of interest. The growth 
of Kendall Square is a story of progress and develop- 
ment of recent date, and of consequent interest, 
although the history of over a century is so closely 
entwined about Kendall Square that one is easily 
carried back to the early days of Boston and Cam- 
bridge for a perusal of the history of this locality, now 
claiming so much attention. 



Wl)t • ^torp ♦ of ♦ i^enball ♦ Square 

Obviously the greatest advantage of Kendall Square 
is its nearness to the heart of the " Hub." Supplant- 
ing the primitive ferry across the Charles River — the 
natural separation between two cities that otherwise 
might have been one — by a modest wooden bridge 
was an advance step, and Kendall Square gained a 
point — or would have if it had been present at that 
time. The substitution, sixty years later, of a more 
substantial bridge and the introduction of horse cars 
was another point in favor of Kendall Square — and 
this time it was there to acknowledge the favor. 
Fifty years passed, and then a granite bridge came, 
and with it the Cambridge Tunnel — and Kendall 
Square was " made." Its history in detail is of interest. 
In the "Columbian Centinel " of January 7, 1792, 
there appeared the following advertisement: 

" WEST BOSTON BRIDGE. As all citizens of the 
United States have an equal right to propose a measure 
that may be beneficial to the public or advantageous 
to themselves, and as no body of men have an 
exclusive right to take to themselves such a privilege, 
a number of gentlemen have proposed to open a new 
subscription for the purpose of building a bridge 
[6] 








H.H. IN CU,SB XBS.MB.. -^ --;-'- ^^^VtlS. '^VZIZ^O 



tCJe ♦ ^torj) ♦ of ♦ Henball ♦ Square 

from West Boston to Cambridge, at such place as 
the General Court may be pleased to direct. A sub- 
scription for two hundred shares in the proposed 
bridge will this day be opened at Samuel Cooper's 
office, north side of the State House." 

History records that this subscription " was filled up 
in three hours." A petition was immediately presented 
to the General Court, and on the 9th of March, 1792, 
Francis Dana and his associates were granted articles 
of incorporation as " The Proprietors of the West 
Boston Bridge." This franchise empowered them to 
construct a bridge " from the Westerly part of Boston 
to Pelham's Island in the town of Cambridge " and 
also " a good road from the Island to the nearest part 
of the Cambridge road." Their articles of incorpora- 
tion also granted to them the right " to take certain 
specified tolls during a term of forty years." 

The completion of this first bridge was heralded in 
the "Centinel" in its issue of November 27, 1793, as 
follows: " The Bridge at West Boston was opened for 
passengers on Saturday last. The elegance of the 
workmanship and the magnitude of the undertaking 
are perhaps unequalled in the history of enterprises. 
[8] 



r^-^^^ . ~— ~"^~^^ 



tlTlje ♦ ^torp • of ♦ llenball ♦ S>quare 

We hope the Proprietors will not suffer pecuniary loss 
from their public spirit." 

Dr. Holmes, the historian, witnessed the building of 
the bridge and records the following detail: 

" It stands on 180 piers, and is 3483 feet long 

Bridge over the Gore, 14 do. 275 do. 
Abutment, Boston side, 87^ 

Causeway, 3344 
Width of the Bridge, 40. " 

He further writes of it as being a " magnificent struc- 
ture, erected at a cost of $76,700." 

By a subsequent act of the General Court, on June 
30, 1792, the original franchise was extended to a 
term of seventy years, and on February 27, 1807, was 
again further extended for another term of seventy 
years to date from the completion of Craigie's Bridge 
(1809). 

Before the building of the first West Boston Bridge 
the section now known as Cambridgeport and East 
Cambridge consisted solely of woodland, pasture, 
swamps and salt marsh. Indeed, the town of Cam- 

[91 



tK jje ♦ ^tor j> • of • Eenball • Square 

bridge at that date contained but one hundred and 
forty-eight houses. Very speedily the new West 
Boston Bridge and its connecting causeway became 
the great highway from the towns of Middlesex to 
the markets of Boston. In the year 1803 the " Cam- 
bridge and Concord Turnpike Corporation " was 
established, with authority to construct a turnpike 
road from the westerly side of Cambridge Common 
to Concord, and two years later, in March, 1805, 
this corporation was given authority to extend the 
turnpike to the causeway near West Boston Bridge. 
This extension is now known as Broadway, and forms 
part of Kendall Square. 

In June of the same year the " Middlesex Turnpike 
Corporation " was established, with authority to build 
a turnpike road from Tyngsborough through Chelms- 
ford, Billerica and Bedford to Cambridge and Concord 
Turnpike near West Boston Bridge. The Cambridge 
portion of this turnpike is now Hampshire Street. 
The chief feature of Main Street and the causeway 
was the inns. There was one located at the corner of 
Main Street and Broadway, which junction is now 
known as Kendall Square, and one a little further 
flOl 




TUAN'SPOBTATION FROM Kf:NDALL SQUARE TO BOSTON', BY WAT 
or THE TUNNEL, IS SO RAl'ID THAT IT GIVES THIS SECTION 
A DISTINCT ADVANTAGE OVER OTUER INDUSTKIAL CENTEB8 



l^Je ♦ ^torp • of ♦ ^enball • g>quare 

east. They had, in connection, vast barns and lengthy- 
courtyards. Into these were driven the great white- 
topped market wagons, drawn by double files of six 
or eight horses. Far into the night their lusty drivers 
clamored from the red-curtained barroom, while 
without in the innyard but a single lantern swayed 
to and fro to show the way to each individual wagon. 
Beside the market wagons that went over West Bos- 
ton Bridge there was a stage that once a day made the 
trip between Harvard Square and Dock Square, Boston. 

By this time the bridge had become so profitable to 
the toll-keepers, inn-keepers, stage-drivers, etc., that 
another was opened to the east, known as Craigie's. 
The settlement about this bridge was the beginning of 
East Cambridge, as that about the West Boston Bridge 
was of Cambridgeport. There was intense rivalry and 
sectional feeling between the factions supporting the 
bridges as to which section should open up the most 
streets, and both places grew very fast. Canals were 
constructed through the marshes and wharves built at 
their edge. 

By 1815 the stage trips over West Boston Bridge were 
made twice a day, the first leaving Cambridge at 
[12 1 





THE NEABNES8 OF KENDAU. SQUARE TO THE HEAKT OF BOSTON 
IS HERE APPARENT, DEACON HILL AND THE CUSTOM HOUSE 
APPEABINQ TO BE WITHIN A STONE's THROW OF THE BBIDQE 



1Ef)t ♦ g)torp ♦ of * Eenball ♦ Square 

eight o'clock in the morning and returning at noon, 
and the second leaving at two o'clock and returning 
at six. Later, hourly stages were started, which were 
always hooted by the " Port chucks " (Cambridgeport 
urchins). 

The bridge remained in charge of the Proprietors of 
the West Boston Bridge until 1846, when it was sold 
to the " Hancock Free Bridge Corporation," who, in 
turn, on February 1, 1858, conveyed it to the City of 
Cambridge " as a free bridge forever." 

The opening of this as a free bridge, after so many 
years of toll paying, was an event of great importance 
to the citizens. The event was celebrated in an en- 
thusiastic manner by decorations, a monster proces- 
sion one and one-half miles long, fireworks and general 
rejoicing. 

In 1854, West Boston Bridge was rebuilt and widened 
to fifty feet, and seven hundred and fifty feet at its 
westerly end and sixty feet at its easterly end were 
filled solid. An interesting fact in connection with 
this bridge is that the first street railway built in New 
England passed over it, and was opened for travel 
[141 



^f)e ♦ ^torj> ♦ of ♦ Henball ♦ Square 

across the bridge and causeway on March 26, 1856. 
After fifty years, this bridge was found inadequate as 
a connecting Hnk between the two rapidly growing 
cities, and in 1907 it gave place to the present magnifi- 
cently designed Cambridge Bridge. This new bridge 
was constructed at a cost of over three milHon dollars, 
and was a part of the general plan of the development 
of the Charles River Basin. 

Six years later came the opening of the Cambridge 
Tunnel — operated first from Park Street to Harvard 
Square, but when completed, having its terminal at 
Andrew Square, South Boston. This stupendous under- 
taking was accomplished in four years, at a cost of 
twelve million dollars, including the power station 
located in Kendall Square. 

Some comparisons of the transportation facilities are 
interesting. Before 1792, one waved for the ferry, and 
the length of the passage was determined more or 
less by the velocity of the wind. In 1793, one stage a 
day favored the traveler; in 1815 two trips a day were 
possible, and somewhere between that date and 1850 
it was possible to ride into Boston once an hour. 

[15] 



QTjje * ^torp ♦ of • i^enball • Square 

Slow, but steady progress! And then in 1857 came 
the horse cars, followed in 1889 by the electric cars, 
making the ride to Kendall Square a matter of minutes 
rather than hours. And finally the Tunnel with its 
three-minute ride between Kendall Square and Park 
Street. 

The name of Kendall Square is first noted in the city 
records of Cambridge in 1856, and is credited to 
Deacon Edward Kendall, for over half a century a 
prominent business man of that locality. Doubtless 
he patronized the stagecoach; we know he was a 
passenger on the first train through the new Cam- 
bridge Tunnel, for a Cambridge paper records that 
when the guard called " Kendall Square " some one 
called attention to the fact that Deacon Kendall was 
on the train, and he was heartily cheered by his fellow 
passengers. 

This, in brief, is the story of Kendall Square. But 
its real history is to be of the future. And in that 
history the next few years will be noteworthy. That 
our new plant occupies a central location in Kendall 
Square is cause for real pride on our part, and we 
plan to keep pace with the development of this locality. 
[16] 



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